user types

Gamification: Overjustification Effect and Cheating

by
Disruptor journey Gamification Overjustification Effect and Cheating

Happy New Year everyone. I was going to start the year with a little article on how I problem solve, but an opportunity arose to write about something that I have been wanting to write about for a while!

When extrinsic rewards go bad

A couple of nights ago, I was bombarded with notices about comments on one particular blog post. Each was from a different, but similar anonymous email address and contained “Nice post xxx” where xxx was a number. Each comment also came from the same IP address.  I was about to block the IP totally, when I noticed that the leaderboard on my site had one very clear leader. It also showed that had a very unusual stream of activity – multiple comments on one post, multiple likes and tweets and g+ across pages and more. They had found a loop hole in the way CaptainUp manages scores. I knew it would probably happen and truth be told the culprit was not a great surprise to me.  What did surprise me was an article that he then published about his experience with gamified systems on my site and another. Read More ...

User Types Test: Stats and conclusions

by
Card image User Types Test Stats and conclusions

Since I first launched my User Types nearly a year ago, I have had lots of great feedback, interesting criticism and a few changes of heart here and there. I have tried to evolve the types and add detail to them, in an attempt to help other people make use of them. The goal was to create a usable framework to help you plan and build gamified systems by identifying a few basic types of users and how to engage them.

Along the way, I seem to have actually made it too complex for many – something than 1.5 tries do deal with (a little). It is also based in part on the stats I have collected from the User Types test that has been running for many months now. So first, some stats. Read More ...

Gamification 2 Years On: what is it now, why is it still important?

by
What is gamification Gamification 2 Years On what is it now why is it still important

A Long, Long Time Ago

Just over 2 years ago, I posted an article called “What is Gamification and Why is it Important?”

I rediscovered it the other day and it seemed like an appropriate time to reassess my words there. Things have moved on since 2011 in the world of gamification, as has my understanding of it.  The majority of the article is actually terrible and all stuff that now, for the most part, I don’t agree with! However, there was one bit that stuck out!

At the time, I defined gamification like this;

“Basically it is making a task more interesting by adopting gaming mechanics. At its simplest all that means is, you get some kind of reward for doing a task.” Read More ...

Achievement, Not Just for Achievers!

by
Victory Achievement Not Just for Achievers

Achievement is a word that, in gamification especially, has several potential meanings and can cause significant confusion. In gamification, it is often associated with things like points and badges. The same can be said for video games these days (think Xbox achievements and Playstation trophies).

To confuse things more, people can be categorised in gamification and video games (using my user types or Bartle’s player types) as achievers. This makes it look a little like only one type of user will actually experience achievement. Read More ...